New Paths to Democratic Development in Latin America: The Rise of NGO-Municipal Collaboration
  • 1995/320 pages

New Paths to Democratic Development in Latin America:

The Rise of NGO-Municipal Collaboration

Charles A. Reilly, editor
Paperback: $29.95
ISBN: 978-1-55587-557-2
Latin America's cities and towns, where 72 percent of the region's total population of 432 million now reside, are the principal arena for redefining its social policy. Municipal governments, however, are fiscally ill-equipped to address the problems of their residents, and as a result, they are inclined to welcome—or at least tolerate—NGOs and grassroots social movements that can help implement and even shape social policy and services.

Joining the growing body of literature examining NGOs and social movements in Latin America, this collection reaches beyond the study of the organizations themselves to explore their complex collaborative ventures with municipal governments—efforts that offer citizens a measure of hope for meeting housing, health, education, and environmental needs through experimentation, contracting, extension, and self-provisioning.

These studies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico aim to advance both democracy and development by concentrating on the local "capillaries" of society, where demands, supports, and information are exchanged to keep the political organism healthy. Ultimately, assert the authors, democratization and development, like effective poverty reduction and social problem solving, must be achieved at the local level.

Charles A. Reilly is director of the Peace Corps, Guatemala. He has authored or coauthored five books on themes related to local-level development and public policy and, most recently, coedited (with William Glade) Inquiry at the Grassroots.